Don’t Like Winter? Check Out NOAA’s Winter Outlook For Maine

With winter knocking on our doors in Maine, the big question on everyone's mind is what kind of winter are we in store for? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who you probably know better as NOAA, released their winter outlook for the United States this week with their winter prediction.

A lot of people turn to the two Farmer's Almanacs for their prediction of the winter weather, but NOAA actually uses science to come up with a winter forecast. That doesn't mean they will be 100% correct, because weather forecasting is never an exact science. NOAA has even stated they have less confidence in this outlook than last year due to a weak El Nino, but at least the methods used are based on observations of current weather and how it is likely to impact our winter in Maine. Here are the two key takeaways from their outlook.

1. Temperatures

NOAA is predicting milder than normal temperatures for New England. In fact most of the country is predicted to have milder than normal temperatures.

2. Precipitation

In Maine, there are "equal chances" of below average or above average precipitation. The odds don't favor one or the other. That said, the milder temps could mean that less of the precip we get could fall as snow with more rain and freezing rain. Which is worse?

The meteorologists at NOAA can explain this much better than we can, so they made this video with hand visual aids to tell us what to expect, but bottom line, we're looking at mild temps and equal chances of more or less snow the normal.